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If Elvis’ infamous air-conditioned doghouse was considered the height of excess in the 1960s, the insane luxuries we have at our fingertips today make Elvis look like nothin’ but a hound dog. Case in point: personal submarines. I only recently discovered their existence, after two friends returned from their Bahamas honeymoon with pictures and stories of such craft (pictured). I was instantly both appalled and jealous — who ever heard of such a thing? Wait, I wanna do that! Turns out that their “submarines” are actually known as “breathing observation bubbles,” and are rather limited compared to full-on submarines, which, yes, you can buy — or build — yourself. To wit:
DIY sub
This Russian man built his own submarine, registered it as a boat with the Russian boat registry, and regularly pilots it back and forth between Helsinki and St. Petersburg at speeds up to four knots. If that sounds like fun to any of you, consider for a moment how many bathrooms, burger joints and Motel 6s are between Finland and Russia underwater. (Uh, let’s see … carry the two … oh, none.) Luckily, this man strong like bear. Link.
Aquarius Personal Submersible
Going up in price range a bit, there’s the Aquarius, a $1.5 million plaything that’ll keep you breathing underwater for up to 72 hours, dive to 100 meters and race along at a sharklike seven knots.
Phoenix 1000
For all you Trumps out there, there’s the Phoenix 1000, which aside from having a terrible name (who wants to entrust their life to a submarine that’s risen from the proverbial ashes?), will put a dent in your pocketbook to the tune of $78 million … hypothetically. (They still haven’t sold one yet. Any takers?) Before you laugh it off, though, check out these specs: at more than 200 feet in length and outfitted with more rooms than the house I grew up in (as well as it’s own docking minisub), it’s more of an underwater yacht than a submarine. This ain’t your WWII veteran grandfather’s claustrophobia-inducing hellhole.
Comments (5)
Comment
Only $78 million? Whats the big deal, I mean this is so easy, you buy 2 of them. One for you and one for your wife or girlfriend. What the heck, keep the 2nd just in case your 1st one springs a leak, needs an oil change, has a flat tire, needs screen door repair, etc…In reality I think even James Bond would feel outa place on this sucker. Where do you go cruising with a ride like this? You know, pick up chicks and stuff?????
posted by John Brown on 9-26-2007 at 8:36 am
Oh, I disagree. I think they are ALL claustrophobia-inducing hellholes! Seriously - just looking at the first two pictures causes my heart to race. For example, in the first picture - their arms and lower bodies are not in the apparatus. How is that watertight? Well, apparently it’s not because there is water in the guy’s suit. I’ll say it again - there is WATER IN THE GUY’S SUIT. Doesn’t this scare the bejeezus out of anyone else besides me? And the second picture - the “sub” looks like it fits his body and absolutely nothing more. Plus, the murkiness of the water just adds to the overall terror of the shot. If there is a purgatory, you have just posted pictures of mine.
posted by caitlen315 on 9-26-2007 at 9:57 am
My personal favorite it the ‘Deep Flight Aviator’. It is described as an underwater airplane. It tops out at 10 knots and can dive 1,000 ft without cabin compression. And it is a bargain at around $2 million.
When I pick the silver M&M (see the previous post about lottery odds), I am going to get me one. However, since I don’t buy lottery tickets, there is a slight flaw in my plan.
posted by n2y2 on 9-26-2007 at 10:14 am
In reply to Caitlen above, if they’re the same as the ones I’ve seen before, they’re not really suits, just helmets, so they’re not meant to be sealed. They just maintain a bubble for you to breathe from, plus a few controls underneath the bit that juts out from the user’s chest for locomotion (very slow locomotion, mind you) I can only surmise that the other “true” submarines depicted above are really meant to just skim the surface, because it doesn’t look like they have periscopes, just an upper observation window. If they submerged completely, I’d prefer a means to avoid stuff on the surface before going there myself.
posted by Mr. Yuk on 9-27-2007 at 8:13 am
A fellow named Doug Jackson has a site called submarineboat.com; take a look to see what a really REALLY serious do-it-yourselfer can do! I go to see the sections on casting aluminum parts, for example, but there is a huge amount of work described here. Almost makes the pricetags on commercial subs understandable.
posted by Ron on 9-27-2007 at 8:27 am